Gongming, You've Got It Wrong-Old Sun's Master Isn't Tongtian!

Deep in the chaos, Mount Sumeru stood.

The sacred mountain towered into the clouds, ancient and vast.

At its summit, Buddhist chants drifted through mistlike spiritual light. Inside a glazed palace, Jieyin and Zhunti sat playing a game.

"Haha! Junior Brother, you lost again!"

Jieyin pointed triumphantly. "Come on, hand over your Nine Dragon Thunder Fire Pearl."

Zhunti's face darkened. He was about to argue when his brow twitched and his expression changed sharply.

Boom!

Their divine senses surged. Both men rose almost at once and stood in midair, gazing through the chaos toward Flower-Fruit Mountain on the Eastern Continent of Divine Sands.

Jieyin's pupils contracted. "This is bad! Our Buddhist School has lost... two bodhisattvas!"

Zhunti looked equally grave. "Medicine King and Medicine Superior... dead, their cultivation gone. Not even a trace of their divine senses remains. Someone killed them in a single blow!"

Two Peak Grand Unity Golden Immortals had died without a chance to resist. What a ruthless attack!

"It was Sun Wukong!"

Jieyin's voice sank. "That Mischievous Monkey has reached Peak Grand Unity Golden Immortal?"

Zhunti's gaze grew troubled. "Who is behind Sun Wukong? Why do they keep targeting the Buddhist School?"

Jieyin closed his eyes and calculated, but his brow furrowed ever deeper. "The secrets of heaven are dark as ink, the threads of karma tangled beyond measure. It's as though some power is hiding everything... Whoever stands behind him is unfathomable."

Zhunti's expression chilled. "Could it be... Tongtian?"

"Or has the one in the Wa Imperial Palace made a move?"

They exchanged a glance and saw the same deep concern in each other's eyes.

Zhunti frowned. "Senior Brother, who do you think is behind this?"

Jieyin rubbed his smooth head, thought for a moment, then sighed.

"These waters run too deep. I wouldn't dare say for certain... But why don't we make another wager?"

Zhunti's eyes brightened, but he soon gave a rueful smile and shook his head. "No more wagers... At this rate, even my purple-gold chrysanthemum won't hold up."

Jieyin blushed, coughed awkwardly, and said, "Fine, no wager... But I'd bet Tongtian had a hand in this!"

Zhunti gazed toward the distant Eastern Continent of Divine Sands and murmured,

"Whoever is stirring up trouble behind the scenes, what does it matter if that monkey is a Peak Grand Unity Golden Immortal?"

"Our Buddhist School has more Grand Unity Golden Immortals and Primordial Golden Immortals than we can count. Dealing with one monkey will be easy!"

"No need to panic. Everything is still under my control!"

Jieyin said nothing. He raised his head toward the depths of the vast chaos, murder blazing in his eyes.

"Tongtian, push us any further, and you'll have only yourself to blame!"

Zhunti followed his gaze into the chaos, his voice cold as iron.

"Don't worry, Senior Brother. Whether it's Tongtian or Nuwa, anyone who defies the course of the Heavenly Dao will pay in blood!"

"As they should!"

On Flower-Fruit Mountain, Eastern Continent of Divine Sands.

A streak of golden light suddenly crossed the sky from the Heavenly Court, swift as lightning.

The light faded, revealing an imposing middle-aged Daoist with a flowing black beard. Clad in Golden Scale Armor, wearing a Black Gold Crown, and holding a Nine Ring Golden Whip, he was none other than Zhao Gongming!

"Hm?"

Zhao Gongming hovered above the clouds and stared down, his expression turning grave.

"This spiritual energy... It's powerful!"

"The aura of Grand Unity Golden Immortals? More than one... Two old baldies from the Buddhist School are attacking a monkey?"

His gaze sharpened. A cold gleam flashed in his golden eyes as he murmured,

"Could that monkey... be Sun Wukong? My junior brother?"

Zhao Gongming frowned.

As the eldest outer disciple under Tongtian, how could he stand by and let outsiders bully Sun Wukong if the monkey truly was his junior brother?

He was about to intervene when, all at once—

Heaven and earth shook!

The golden monkey roared, and thunder answered across ten thousand miles!

Sun Wukong's rage surged. He became a streak of primordial golden light and threw a punch that shattered the void!

Boom!

Terror filled Medicine Superior Bodhisattva's face. Before he could utter a Buddhist invocation, the punch annihilated both his body and soul, leaving not even a scrap of his golden form!

Then another punch came roaring in!

It carried boundless killing intent, as though splitting heaven and earth apart. Amid thunder and fire, Medicine King Bodhisattva had no time to flee. The blow shattered his body and wiped out his primordial spirit!

His golden form, his dharma manifestation, his Buddhist light—all were destroyed!

In mere moments, Sun Wukong had slain two Peak Grand Unity Golden Immortal bodhisattvas of the Buddhist School with his fists!

Zhao Gongming's pupils contracted. He drew a sharp breath.

"Hiss!"

"Master Tongtian above... That monkey's a monster! He swatted two Peak Grand Unity Golden Immortal bodhisattvas like flies?"

He stared at the churning clouds and scattered fragments of golden forms below, horror filling his eyes. Then it turned to delight!

"Decisive and ruthless, with no hesitation once he strikes! That killing aura could shake heaven and earth. Now that temperament, that way of fighting... Isn't it exactly how we direct disciples of the Interception Sect do things?"

"That monkey... He must be Master Tongtian's disciple! There's no mistake!"

Excitement surged through Zhao Gongming. Such intense killing intent, such a decisive nature—he was just like Master Tongtian!

Zhao Gongming swept his sleeve, dropped his concealment technique, and appeared before Sun Wukong.

"Junior Brother, do you know who I, Zhao Gongming, am?"

Sun Wukong had gathered his spoils and was about to return to Water Curtain Cave. The sudden appearance of the Daoist made him pause. Wariness and confusion entered his eyes.

"You called me Junior Brother?"

"Did Master take on a new disciple?"

"That can't be right. Master said Old Sun was his First Disciple!"

"If I'm his first disciple, how could I have a senior brother!?"

At those words, Zhao Gongming's smile froze as though Five Thunders Crashing Down had struck him on the spot!

"What... You're... his First Disciple?"

Zhao Gongming's eyes lost focus. His lips trembled, and he stumbled back a step, muttering,

"Master Tongtian... Have you... abandoned me, Zhao Gongming?"

"Have you forgotten all of us old disciples and cast us out?"

"Am I... not even an outer disciple anymore?"

He remembered his fellow disciples laughing and talking together on the Interception Sect's Jin'ao Island. Then he thought of how the sect had fallen apart, its former glory long gone.

Zhao Gongming, once the foremost outer disciple of the Interception Sect, could no longer contain his grief!

Thud!

He dropped to both knees. Tears poured down his face as he sobbed!

"Master Tongtian! I know I was wrong! During the Investiture of the Gods Tribulation, we disobeyed your orders and went down the mountain without permission, bringing disaster upon the Interception Sect..."

"But in our hearts, we always revered you as a father! We never turned our backs on the sect!"

"Now you've founded a new sect and given someone else the title of First Disciple... How am I supposed to bear that?"

Zhao Gongming wept so bitterly that the sky seemed to dim and the clouds trembled. Even the distant immortal birds and spirit beasts were startled into crying out.

"What? The Interception Sect?"

"Master Tongtian?"

Sun Wukong finally understood and hurriedly said,

"Fellow Daoist, you've got it wrong!"

"Old Sun's master isn't Sect Master Tongtian at all!"